A tattered Syrian flag appears atop a building in the city of Homs on Thursday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Arab League finance ministers propose sanctions, including a flight ban
- NEW: The alliance's foreign ministers will meet Sunday to consider the proposal
- NEW: Syrian state media derides the league as "a tool for foreign interference"
- 11 civilians, including 3 children, are killed Saturday, an opposition group says
(CNN) -- Arab League finance ministers recommended Saturday that economic sanctions be levied against the Syrian government for its part in a bloody, months-long crackdown on civilian demonstrators, a senior Arab League official told CNN.
Foreign ministers from the regional alliance will meet at 11 a.m. Sunday in Cairo (4 a.m. ET) to consider whether to adopt the proposal.
Damascus had failed to respond to a Friday deadline for it to allow Arab League observers into the Middle Eastern country to monitor the government's response to civil unrest.
"The Syrians responded with more requests to amendments to the protocol; they did not reject or accept," a senior Arab League diplomat said.
The slate of sanctions proposed Saturday in Cairo -- which were opposed by Algeria and Iraq -- include barring any private or commercial airlines from the league's 22 member states from flying into or out of Syria.
In addition, all assets belonging to the Syrian government and its officials would be frozen so they couldn't be accessed, and Syrian officials would not be allowed to visit Arab League countries.
A report in Syria's state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) had predicted such measures, claiming they would "harm ... the interests of the Syrian people." The story called the Arab League's actions unprecedented, decrying the alliance as "a tool for foreign interference."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Syria risked international isolation if it continued along its present path -- adding that the reported violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests could not be tolerated.
"Syria has to make a decision," he said in Istanbul alongside his Italian counterpart, Giulio Terzi. "It will either continue this crackdown policy against its people and become isolated more and more, or it will say yes to this well-intentioned Arab League proposal, sign this protocol and observers will monitor the situation on the ground by going to all Syrian cities."
Meanwhile, more violence was reported in Syria on Saturday, with the activist group Local Coordination Committees of Syria claiming that at least 11 civilians -- among them, three children -- had been killed.
Seven of the deaths occurred in Homs, two in Deir Ezzor, and one each in the Damascus suburbs of Kanaker and Idlib, said the group, which organizes and documents anti-government protests.
State-run SANA, meanwhile, reported that 22 army and security force members were buried Saturday.
"The martyrs were targeted by the armed terrorist groups while they were in the line of duty in the governorates of Damascus Countryside, Homs and Hama," that report said. "Relatives of the martyrs expressed pride in their son's martyrdom who sacrificed their lives to defend their homeland, stressing that Syria will remain steadfast in the face of the conspiracy which targets its unity and stability."
CNN cannot independently verify reports from either side, since Syria's government has limited access to international news organizations.
Since March, protesters in cities across the country have been demanding President Bashar al-Assad's ouster and democratic elections.
The United Nations estimated earlier this month that more than 3,500 Syrians have died in the subsequent government crackdown, said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Al-Assad's government has consistently blamed armed gangs for the violence.
Adding to the pressure on Damascus, the United Nations Committee Against Torture said Friday it is "deeply concerned about gross and pervasive human rights violations in Syria," which are allegedly taking place "in a context of impunity."
"Of particular concern are reports referring to children who have suffered torture and mutilation while detained; as well as cases of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; arbitrary detention by police forces and the military; and enforced and involuntary disappearances," said Claudio Grossman, who heads the expert panel.
Reliable sources indicate the abuses "are allegedly conducted under direct orders from public authorities, at their instigation or with their consent or acquiescence," Grossman said.
The committee has asked Syria to provide a special report by early March indicating that it is abiding by its obligations under the U.N. Convention against Torture, to which Syria is a signatory.
Journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment